GDP estimate cuts show divergence between economic activity and optimism

There’s a growing divergence between the optimism seen by stock market traders, business executives and consumers, and actual economic activity. The Atlanta Fed’s GDPNow model for GDP growth, which mashes 13 subcomponents together, was cut on Thursday to 1.8% from 2.5%, marking its lowest forecast for the quarter. The biggest culprit was the weak consumer spending revealed in Thursday’s personal consumption expenditure report